Palestinians push to end Greek 'occupation' of patriarchate
Arab Orthodox youths in the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem are accusing ruling Greek monks of selling church land to Israel and discriminating against the Arab Christian flock.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Greek Orthodox Church in Palestine and Jordan is witnessing a movement akin to an intifada against Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, Palestine and Jordan over actions that organizers of the movement call “racist and wasteful.”
On Dec. 27, the executive committee of the Arab Central Orthodox Council in Palestine and Jordan began a campaign against the patriarch, coinciding with his participation in Christmas celebrations. A number of protesters raised banners that read “unworthy” during sit-ins and marches organized in Bethlehem on Jan. 6 and posted “Theophilos is unworthy” on social networking sites.
Movement organizers accuse the patriarch of “diverting church lands to Israel and making unfair decisions against Arab monks,” the latest being the removal from office of Archimandrite Christophoros and the reduction of the salaries of Archbishop Atallah Hanna and Archimandrite Meletios Basal.
Protesting Arab Orthodox youths in Jordan and Palestine issued a Dec. 16 statement describing the decision as “uncanonical and taken by an unqualified synod,” adding, “Theophilos is not the legitimate patriarch of the Church of Jerusalem. He is unworthy of trust and neither he nor his synod represents us or represents the Arab Orthodox flock in Jordan and Palestine.”
